JP2001076463A - Data structure of data file, data file recording medium, and data file reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data file format allowing both sides of a content provider and a content user to derive the contents and related information by easy operation, by realizing a system capable of providing, retrieving and obtaining information on video or music contents. SOLUTION: The data file reproducing device comprises at least a content data part 2 in which video or music contents are recorded as a data file and a header part 1. Information related to the video or music contents is descried in the header part of the data file. It is possible to make access to a server machine on a computer network by using connection information 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data structure of video and music contents, a data file recording medium on which a data file having the data structure is recorded, and a data file reproducing apparatus for reproducing information of the data file. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For video or music contents, in addition to the contents data itself, related information relating to the contents can be considered. The content related information referred to here is, for example, information related to the artist who created the content, and includes, for example, artist profile, discography, and event concert information. In addition, there is a wide variety of information other than artists, such as product information and corporate information of content providers such as record companies and related sponsor companies. Therefore, in addition to the purpose of appreciating the content itself, the potential need to provide or obtain information related to the content is:
It is considered that the content is on the sender side and the content is on the receiver side.

[0003] These various types of information are often made public on the Internet, but there is no means for linking the content with address information on the Internet where the information exists. For this reason, it has been difficult for both the content providing side and the user side to efficiently provide, efficiently search, and obtain information related to video or music contents.

At present, music content data and connection information to the Internet exist as individual information. Therefore, in order to link the two, it is necessary to define an association between the two by creating a data file different from the content data file using an HTML file used in the production of the homepage.

[0005]

However, in the above case, additional authoring software is required to create the HTML file. The user also needs to set up an environment for reproducing video and music contents with computer-based browser software and a computer. For this reason, there is a problem that the production cost on the side of providing the content and the load on the simplicity of the user on the side of using the content increase.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and does not define the association between the two in a separate data file such as an HTML file, but combines the content data and connection information. This allows content producers to distribute, copy, and reuse only content data files.
Further, a first object is to realize a data file capable of increasing the added value of the content data itself.

[0007] With the recent development of computer technology, it has become possible to provide a conventional audio-visual apparatus for reproducing video and music contents with a function of connecting to a computer network. Therefore, the present invention realizes a data file recording medium that can obtain content-related information on a network without using a computer on the side that reproduces the content data, and reproduces the data file. It is a second object of the present invention to realize a data file reproducing apparatus capable of not only viewing the content but also obtaining the content-related information.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data structure including a header and a content data section in which at least one of video and music contents is recorded. The unit is characterized in that a data area for describing connection information to a data file on a computer network having information related to the content is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the data structure of the data file according to the first aspect, the computer network is the Internet, and the connection information to the information related to the content is the Internet of the related information owner. It is characterized by being information for accessing the above information providing site.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the data structure of the data file according to the first aspect, the related information owner of the content includes at least one of a creator of the content and a provider of the content. It is assumed that.

[0011] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the data structure of the data file of the first aspect, the content of the content data portion includes only a part of information of the content data, and is related to the content. The information connection information is connection information for accessing a database storing the contents.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data file recording medium in which a data file is recorded, wherein the data file includes a content data portion in which at least one of video and music contents is recorded, and A header portion describing connection information to a data file on a computer network having related information;
Is a data file having the following.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the data file recording medium of the fifth aspect, the computer network is the Internet, and the connection information to the information related to the content is stored on the Internet of a related information owner. This is information for accessing a site for providing information.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the data file recording medium of the sixth aspect, the related information owner of the content includes at least one of a content creator and a content provider. Is what you do.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the data file recording medium of the fifth aspect, the content of the content data portion includes only a part of information of the content data, and information related to the content is provided. The connection information to is connected to access the database storing the content.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data file reproducing apparatus for reproducing a data file including a header and a content data section in which at least one of video and music contents is recorded. It is characterized by reproducing a data file in which connection information to a data file on a computer network having information is described.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the data file reproducing apparatus of the ninth aspect, the computer network is the Internet, and the connection information to the information related to the content is stored on the Internet of the owner of the related information. This is information for accessing a site for providing information.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the data file reproducing apparatus of the tenth aspect, the related information owner of the content includes at least one of a content creator and a content provider. Things.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the data file reproducing device of the ninth aspect, the content of the content data portion includes only a part of information of the content data, and information related to the content is provided. The connection information to is connected to access the database storing the content.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data file reproducing apparatus for reproducing a data file, wherein the data file includes: a content data portion in which at least one of video and music contents is recorded;
A header section including connection information for connecting to a site for providing information by an information provider relating to the content on the computer network, wherein the data file reproducing apparatus includes a network connection section for connecting to the computer network. A data file holding unit that captures and holds the data file, a content playback unit that plays back the content of a content data portion of the data file held by the data file holding unit, and a content playback unit that holds the data file. A signal processing unit for accessing an information providing site via the network connection unit using connection information of a header portion of the data file.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the data file reproducing device of the thirteenth aspect, the data file holding unit is a recording medium reading unit that reads information from a recording medium. .

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in the data file reproducing device of the thirteenth aspect, the content reproducing section is a video reproducing device for reproducing video content data.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, in the data file reproducing device of the thirteenth aspect, the content reproducing section is a music reproducing device for reproducing music content data.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, in the data file reproducing apparatus of the thirteenth aspect, the computer network is the Internet, and the connection information to the information related to the content is stored on the Internet of the owner of the related information. This is information for accessing a site for providing information.

[0025] The invention of claim 18 of the present application is the data file reproducing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the related information owner of the content includes at least one of a content creator and a content provider. Is what you do.

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, in the data file reproducing apparatus of the thirteenth aspect, the content of the content data portion includes only a part of information of the content data, and information related to the content is provided. The connection information to is connected to access the database storing the content.

According to the present invention having such features,
On both the content providing side and the content using side, it is possible to provide, search, and obtain information related to video or music content with an inexpensive system and easy operation.

[0028]

(Embodiment 1) A data file according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described. FIG.
Is a specific example of a data file format of video and music contents in the present embodiment. This data file includes at least a header 1 and a content data 2
It has a data structure composed of:

The header part 1 starts with a header part identification ID 3 for identifying the head of the header part 1, and includes connection information 4 to a data file on a computer network having at least information relating to the contents of the content data part 2. Including. A plurality of connection information 4 can exist in one data file, and the connection information 4 shown in FIG. 1 includes two pieces of connection information. Each piece of connection information is identified by a link attribute ID5 and a link attribute ID6.

In the present embodiment, the link attribute ID5 of the first connection information is "ARTS". This indicates that it is connection information to the homepage of the artist who is the creator of the content. As information necessary for accessing this homepage, an IP address, a file name including a path name, a login name, and a password are described.

The link attribute ID 6 of the second connection information is “ORIG”. This indicates connection information for accessing a database storing video or music content. Further, in order to access the database storing the video or music contents, necessary IP addresses, file names including path names, login names, and passwords are also included.

The header section 1 may include a header section size 7 indicating the size of the header section 1 and a content data attribute ID 8 for identifying the data attribute of the content data section 2 as data other than the above. Shall be good.

On the other hand, the content data part 2 starts with a content data part identification ID 9 for identifying the head of the content data part 2 and has a content data part size 1
0, and the actual content data 11 are recorded.

The data of the content data section 2 in the present embodiment may be information including only the beginning or highlight portion of the content, or information obtained by compressing the content data. In this case, the content information is part of the information in time or part of the original content data in the quality of the content data. Since the original original data exists in the database on the computer network, it is assumed that the header portion includes connection information to the original content data.

The data of the content section 2 may be all data of the content. In this case, the header section includes connection information for accessing information related to the content.

Embodiment 2 Next, a data file recording medium according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 2 shows a specific example of a data file format of video and music contents recorded on a data file recording medium according to the present embodiment. In the data file according to the present embodiment, a plurality of header portions and content data portions exist in one recording medium. Here, a plurality of header part identification IDs, a unique header part identification ID for each header part
3-1, 3-2 and 3-3 are provided. In each content data section, a reference header ID12 for describing a header identification ID3 of a header section to be referred to by the content data is provided for each content. Also, in the present embodiment, in order to perform data access at high speed,
A plurality of header parts are recorded in a grouped area, and the content data part is recorded in another grouped area.

(Third Embodiment) Next, a third embodiment showing a data providing service using a data file according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the entire configuration. In this figure, a computer network Internet 21 has a server machine 22 of a record company A, a server machine 23 having a homepage of a maker B, a server machine 24 having a homepage of a production company C, and a homepage of a broadcasting station D. Server machine 25 that has a server machine 26
Is connected. The connection company E is a company that provides a service for connecting the user's data file reproducing device 27 to the Internet.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram and FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the data file reproducing device 27 used by the user. The data file reproducing device 27 includes a video reproducing device 31, which is a content reproducing portion for reproducing a menu screen or a video content, a display device 32, and an audio reproducing device 3, which is a content reproducing portion for reproducing music content.
3, a speaker 34, a network adapter 35 for connecting to a computer network, a signal processing unit 36,
Optical disk drive 3 for reproducing information on optical disk 37
8 and a memory 39. When the optical disk is not used as a recording medium for content distribution, the optical disk drive 38 need not be provided. In this case, the data file obtained from the network is held in the memory 39 connected to the signal processing unit 36, and the memory 39 serves as a data file holding unit.

The data file reproducing device 27 is connected by a network adapter 35 to the server machine 26 of the provider E to the Internet 21. The user can operate the server machine 22 of the record company A and the server machine 2 of the maker B via the server machine 26.
3. It can be connected to the server machine 24 of the production company C and the server machine 25 of the broadcasting station D.

The music contents are produced by a record company A that produces the contents, and are uploaded to the server machine 22 of the record A company's Web site or FTP site in the form of electronic file data. On the other hand, the maker B publishes information on a new product using the artist who produced the content in the CM on the homepage of the company B's website or on an FTP site. Production C to host the artist's concert
The company publishes concert information and information for ticket purchase on its homepage homepage and FTP site. Further, the broadcasting station D produces a new program in which the artist appears, and publishes the new program information on a website of the company D and an FTP site.

When the music content and the related information on the music content exist on the Internet 21 as described above, the connection company E purchases the music content from the record company A, and further purchases the music content from the maker B and the production company C. Upon receiving the connection information related to the music content, a data file of the format according to the first embodiment of the present invention is created and uploaded to the server machine 26 of the connection company. As explained earlier,
The header part of this data file contains only the connection information necessary for accessing the respective information, and does not include, for example, the specification data of the new product of the manufacturer B or the image data of the appearance.

Next, the operation of the file reproducing apparatus 27 for reproducing the data file format of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, when the data file shown in the first embodiment is obtained from a connection provider and the operation is started, first, the file reproducing device 27 reads the data file, detects the header ID 3 and recognizes the head of the header 1. (Steps S1 to S
3). Next, the header size 7 is read in step S4. The link attribute ID is searched in the range of the data size, and is displayed on the display device 32 every time the link attribute ID is detected (step S).
5 to S8). Assuming that the data file contains connection information for the manufacturer B and the production company C, FIG.
As shown in the figure, the display device 32 includes "Go Product" and "
Go Artict "is displayed.

Next, in the flowchart of FIG. 7, the user selects connection to one of "Go Product" and "Go Artict" or data reproduction (step S).
9, S10). When a connection to a specific connection destination is selected by a user operation, the playback device 27
1 and the IPs below the selected link information ID
An address, a file name, a login name, a password, and the like are read, and a target server is logged in to access a data file related to the content (steps S11 and S12). The user then
The data file on the logged-in server is browsed by the same operation as a general homepage browser (step S13). When the browsing is completed, a connection to another server is executed by the data file reproducing device 27 on the menu screen shown in FIG. 8, or "Start Play" is selected to select the music included in the content data section 2. Select to play the content. When the reproduction of the content is selected, the content data section identification ID 9 is detected in step S14. Next, in step S15, the content data 1
Play 1

For the companies B and C, providing the connection information to the company's homepage to the connection company E and passing the connection information to the company's homepage to the user who has purchased the related music content is an unspecified majority. Internet 2
1 can be expected to have a higher advertising effect than simply publishing it on its own website. Therefore, the connection company E can obtain income as an advertisement fee from each company for importing the connection information into the data file. Increasing the number of such companies to B, C, and D increases the advertising revenue, and as a result, the first embodiment of the present invention at a lower price than purchasing only linear music content from record company A. It is possible to sell data files in the format described in.

On the other hand, for the general user, by purchasing the data file uploaded to the server machine 22 of the connecting company E, not only the video and music contents but also the related information of the contents scattered on the Internet 21 can be separately obtained. No more searching. The user's data file reproducing device 27 uses the connection information included in the data file, and selects a menu screen shown on the display device 32 as shown in FIG. It is also possible to access the homepage of each company, and complicated setting and operation for connection can be unnecessary. Therefore, the related information can be easily obtained, and the great advantage that the purchase price is low can be realized.

In the above description, the data file in the format according to the embodiment of the present invention is sold as an electronic file via a network. However, the data file is recorded on an optical disk or a magnetic disk package medium. It may be in the form of selling to general users. When an optical disk is used, the optical disk 37 and the optical disk driver 38 shown in FIG. 5 serve as a data file holding unit.

[0047]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a system that can provide, search, and obtain information related to video or music content at low cost on both the side that provides the content and the side that uses the content. can do. In addition, there is an effect that the operation becomes easy.

According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a data file recording medium capable of obtaining content-related information on a network without requiring a computer on the side of reproducing content data. Further, by reproducing the data file, it is possible to obtain a data file reproducing apparatus that can not only view desired content but also obtain content-related information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a data file format of video or music content according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a data file format of video or music content according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a relationship between a configuration of a data file reproducing device and a server machine according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a data file reproducing device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a data file reproducing device according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating an operation of the data file reproducing device according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating the operation of the data file reproducing device according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on a data file reproducing device according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Header part 2 Content data part 3 Header part identification ID 4 Connection information 5 First link attribute ID 6 Second link attribute ID 7 Header part size 8 Content data attribute ID 9 Content data part identification ID 10 Content data part size 11 Content data 12 Reference header ID 21 Internet 22 Record company A's server machine 23 Maker B's server machine 24 Production C's server machine 25 Broadcasting station D's server machine 26 Server company E's server machine 27 Data file playback device 31 Video playback Device 32 Display device 33 Sound reproduction device 34 Speaker 34 35 Network adapter 36 Signal processing unit 37 Optical disk 38 Optical disk drive 39 Memory

Claims (19)

[Claims] 1. A data structure comprising a content data section in which at least one of video and music content is recorded and a header section, wherein the header section has information related to the content. A data structure of a data file, wherein a data area describing connection information to the above data file is provided. 2. The computer network is the Internet, and the connection information to the information related to the content is information for accessing a site for providing information on the Internet of a related information owner. The data structure of the data file according to claim 1, wherein 3. The data structure of a data file according to claim 2, wherein the related information owner of the content includes at least one of a content creator and a content provider. 4. The content of the content data portion includes only a part of information of the content data, and the connection information to the information related to the content accesses a database storing the content. 2. The data structure of a data file according to claim 1, wherein the data structure is connection information for connection. 5. A data file recording medium on which a data file is recorded, wherein the data file includes: a content data portion in which at least one of video and music contents is recorded; and a computer network having information related to the content. A data file recording medium, comprising: a header portion describing connection information to the above data file. 6. The computer network is the Internet, and the connection information to the information related to the content is information for accessing a site for providing information on the Internet of a related information owner. 6. The data file recording medium according to claim 5, wherein: 7. The data file recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the related information owner of the content includes at least one of a creator of the content and a provider of the content. 8. The content of the content data portion includes only a part of information of the content data, and the connection information to the information related to the content accesses a database storing the content. 6. The data file recording medium according to claim 5, wherein the connection information is connection information for the data file. 9. A data file playback apparatus for playing back a data file including a header and a content data section in which at least one of video and music content is recorded, wherein the data file playback apparatus is provided on a computer network having information related to the content. A data file reproducing apparatus for reproducing a data file in which connection information to a data file is described. 10. The computer network is the Internet, and the connection information to information related to the content is information for accessing a site for providing information on the Internet of a related information owner. 10. The data file reproducing device according to claim 9, wherein: 11. The related information owner of the content,
11. The content includes at least one of a content creator and a content provider.
A data file reproducing apparatus as described in the above. 12. The content of the content data section includes only a part of information of the content data, and the connection information to the information related to the content accesses a database storing the content. 10. The data file playback device according to claim 9, wherein the connection information is connection information for use. 13. A data file reproducing apparatus for reproducing a data file, wherein the data file is associated with a content data section in which at least one of video and music contents is recorded, and the content on a computer network. A header section including connection information for connecting to a site for providing information by an information provider, wherein the data file reproducing apparatus includes: a network connection section for connecting to a computer network; and capturing and holding the data file A data file holding unit, a content playback unit that plays back the content of the content data portion of the data file held in the data file holding unit, and connection information of a header portion of the data file held in the data file holding unit. make use of, Serial data file reproducing apparatus characterized by comprising a signal processing unit to access the information-providing site through the network connection unit, a. 14. The data file reproducing device according to claim 13, wherein the data file holding unit is a recording medium reading unit that reads information from a recording medium. 15. The data file playback device according to claim 13, wherein the content playback unit is a video playback device that plays back video content data. 16. The data file reproducing device according to claim 13, wherein the content reproducing unit is a music reproducing device for reproducing music content data. 17. The computer network is the Internet, and the connection information to the information related to the content is information for accessing a site for providing information on the Internet of a related information owner. 14. The data file reproducing device according to claim 13, wherein: 18. The related information owner of the content,
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of a content creator and a content provider.
8. The data file reproducing device according to 7. 19. The content of the content data portion includes only a part of information of the content data, and the connection information to the information related to the content accesses a database storing the content. 14. The data file playback device according to claim 13, wherein the connection information is connection information for use.